What is fibre optic broadband?

It’s new, it’s ultrafast, it’s fibre... is probably what you keep on reading
in the press. But the question is what is a fibre optic connection and why
is it hailed as the holy grail of super speedy broadband?

9:33AM BST 04 Jul 2012

Let’s talk tech: fibre optic wires are minuscule strands made of plastic or glass which are designed to carry virtual information at very high speeds. In fact, a fibre wire is thinner than a single human hair.

There are two fibre optic broadband types, both of which are commercially available in the UK: FTTC, which stands for fibre-to-the-cabinet and FTTP, fibre-to-the-premises.

Their names reveal the way they deliver internet to your home, the former provides fibre to the cabinet which later finds its way to your home, whereas the latter supplies the connection directly to your doorstep, which is why it boasts greater speeds.

At the moment BT’s FTTC technology delivers 40Mbps but the provider plans to boost that to 80Mbps. The same goes for FTTP which will see speeds pump up to 300Mbps from the current number of 100Mbps. But that’s in the near future.

The cable giant, Virgin Media, is the one which has topped all of the speed charts with its latest decision to make all of its fibre offerings twice as fast with packages of 50Mbps and 100Mbps hiking up to 120Mbps.

This is where the debate begins: some were quick to say that there was no demand for lightning-fast speeds as most of the current equipment, handsets and devices such as laptops, wireless routers and smartphones would simply not be able to cope with such high power.

Fibre optic broadband is not on the cheap side either, however if you are a keen online gamer, your sister loves to stream her favourite soaps while you brother is constantly downloading movies and music – a high-speed internet connection may be great for your household.

If you are not sure if fibre is available in your area, let the Telegraph comparison engine powered by SimplifyDigital help you find out!